Last week John posted a link to an article about Pearl Harbor on the history webnotes page. I have always been interested in the subject so I decided to do a search myself, and I posted a link on the history page to a fascinating site that I found. It seemed particularly relevant to anthropology because we have spent so much time talking about ways to understand a people or culture, and the article presents a very different take on the events of Pearl Harbor. Most people think of Pearl Harbor as an avoidable tragedy and laud FDR for entering the US into the European conflict and protecting our country. My grandfather, who fought in the Pacific during WWII, always believed that FDR had information about the attack before it happened. The site offers a considerable amount of evidence to support my grandfather's position, from sources as reliable as the NSA and CIA. I'm not sure how credible the site is, but it offers a very atypical assessment of the attack and if nothing else gives a new, enlightening perspective. It certainly proves that in analyzing a large group of people (in this case Americans), there is much more depth to popular beliefs (like that FDR is one of the greatest presidents in our history) than many recognize.
Posted by carlos at September 26, 2004 08:51 PM